Niall Hannigan’s quick-fire hat-trick, inside only eight minutes, fired St Eunan’s to U21 glory.
St Eunan’s 5-11 Glenfin 1-8
Hannigan scored his first goal after just 65 seconds and, even at that early stage, there was a feeling of inevitability about it.
Hannigan riffled home after taking a ball in from Rory Carr to pave the way for a comfortable win for the black and amber.
Hannigan scorched in again to score just over a minute later, this time finishing from Oisin Purdy’s off-load.
Hannigan had the match ball secured when he palmed home from Carr’s centre and St Eunan’s were never behind as they went on to win by 15 points.
The clock showed just seven-and-a-half minutes gone, but already Hannigan’s treble had St Eunan’s firmly buckled into the driving seat.
Niall O’Donnell – who scored 1-8 for the winners – widened the margin with a pair of points, with St Eunan’s first point not arriving until the 20th minute.
Glenfin had built up quite the array of victims on their way to the final with Gaoth Dobhair – the defending champions – Sean MacCumhaills and Naomh Conaill all accounted for.
The An Gaeltacht Lar team were the rank underdogs, but Conor McBride did hit three-in-a-row to give them a glimmer.
But they headed for the dressing room trailing by eleven points as O’Donnell riffled in penalty after Purdy was taken down.
O’Donnell’s goal had St Eunan’s 4-2 to 0-4 in front and, three minutes into the second half, Darragh Toal blocked Aaron McGlynn’s blistering shot to keep the St Eunan’s sheet clean.
Glenfin came alive when full-back Packie McGrath managed to find the net as his scuffed shot beat Eoin O’Boyle.
Stephen Carr and Eoin Donnellan had Glenfin within five points and starting to dream of the unthinkable.
O’Donnell posted five successive points, including one free from wide on the left, to steady the ship.
Five minutes from the end, St Eunan’s added another major as Purdy steered home from a pass in by Eoin McGeehan.
St Eunan’s: Eoin O’Boyle; Conor Moore, Darragh Toal, Anthony Gallagher; Sean Ryan, Oisin Toal, Peter McEniff; Sean McGettigan, Aaron Deeney; Cormac Finn (0-1), Niall O’Donnell (1-8, 4f), Niall Hannigan (3-0); Eoin McGeehin (0-1), Rory Carr, Oisin Purdy (1-0). Subs: Shane O’Donnell for Carr (38), Brian MacIntyre for Hannigan (48), Ciaran McCloskey for Moore (50), James Kelly for McEniff (53), Kevin Kealy (0-1) for O’Donnell (56), Sean Halvey for Ryan (57).
Glenfin: Liam O’Meara; Ross Marley, Packie McGrath (1-0), Darren Marley; Matthew McGinley, Aodhfin McGlynn, Stephen Carr (0-1f); Jason Morrow, Kyle Doherty; David Carr, Eoin Donnellan (0-1), Aaron McGlynn; Karl McGlynn, Conor McBride (0-6, 4f), Kyle O’Meara. Subs: Odhran McGlynn for K.O’Meara (half-time), Kain McGlynn D.Carr (38), Shane O’Donnell for D.Marley (58), Shane Moy for McBride (58), Brian Foy for R.Marley (58), Dylan McGlynn for A.McGlynn (58).
Referee: Val Murray (Aodh Ruadh).
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